October 19, 1968 – Mexico City, Mexico: A light rain had begun falling in the late afternoon making the mid-50’s temperature seem even colder. The lights were on at Olympic Stadium as the athletes prepared for the high jump, the final event in the two-day decathlon...
Summer 2011 – Radford, Virginia: Josh received the admissions letter from Radford University physics department chairman Dr. Rhett Herman with the news he would not be able to enroll in physics. Josh had never taken high school trigonometry, a prerequisite for a...
April 1943: Captain Jack Glover tried to have Desmond Doss discharged from his Army company. A Contentious Objector, Doss wasn’t like the other soldiers. He didn’t eat meat, refused to carry a rifle or work on Saturday, his Sabbath. And he prayed all the time. Fellow...
May 7, 1988 – Kentucky Derby – Louisville, Kentucky: The ladies came early. They came in record numbers with their painted signs and their flamboyant, frilly hats. Believing the bigger the hat, the better the luck, they filed into Churchill Downs, the most famous...
San Francisco, California – 1951: A doctor labeled him a “quack” and advised against his weightlifting methods believing they were dangerous and could cause a heart attack. A newspaper journalist referred to him as a “charlatan” whose exercise routines could lead to...
1945 – Brooklyn, New York: Branch Rickey, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers was deeply concerned that there were no black players in major league baseball. He knew baseball needed to change, but he knew it would be challenging to break the color barrier. Rickey was...
